‘Eumelos’: a Corinthian epic cycle?

West, M. L.

doi:10.2307/3246207

Cited by 106 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…[2011c] 362-363). West (2002) indeed dates the poetry of ‚Eumelos' to the late 7 th and 6 th century. 281 This sounds plausible (see Vitalis [1930] 32-52;Dunbabin [1948] 67; Salmon [1984] 38-39, 49-52;Hall [1997] 59) although no direct evidence in the form of relevant fragments has survived.…”

Section: Corinthmentioning

confidence: 97%

Basileus, tyrannosand polis. The Dynamics of Monarchy in Early Greece

Kõiv¹

2016

Klio

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The article scrutinizes the development of the forms of leadership in the Early Iron Age and Archaic Greece, questioning the traditional view that per sonal leadership as described in the Homeric epics (the ‚Homeric basileia') was the rule during the Early Iron Age, but was replaced in the Archaic period by col lective aristocracies, and by tyrannies as a principally new kind of monarchy. The article questions the strict distinction between the ‚constitutional' forms of government like basileia and oligarchy, and tyrannis as an illegal break of the con stitutional order. The Early Iron Age archaeology supplies no evidence for institu tionalised and permanent personal leadership, and the Homeric epic, presenting a controversial vision of an ostensibly distant past, cannot be accepted as a reli able guide to the sociopolitical order of the Early Iron Age. The terms basileus and tyrannos were used largely synonymously until ca 400, demonstrating that the Archaic Greeks did not distinguish between legitimate basileia and illegal tyrannis in their contemporary world. The evidence, including the halflegendary accounts concerning particular poleis, suggests that the more or less firmly established monarchies emerged from the eighth century onwards. On the other hand, it infers constant tensions between competing elite groups striving for power, and the consequent fluctuation of the forms of government in the Archaic. The situation could have been similar during the Early Iron Age, which suggests that Early Iron Age Greeks were familiar with both collective and personal lead ership. The emergence of tyrannies and collectively governed poleis can be seen as varying, alternative, ways of polity formation resulting from the quickening development and growing tensions from the eighth century onwards; the legiti macy of both depended on local circumstances. Tyranny appears not as a break of established aristocratic order, but as the monarchic form of elite leadership; the legitimacy of both depended on local circumstances. Tyranny appears as the monarchic form of elite leadership in the early polis, which proved, however, unaccept able in the long term as personal rule became increasingly regarded as an undesirable negation of consensual order.

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Section: Corinthmentioning

confidence: 97%

Basileus, tyrannosand polis. The Dynamics of Monarchy in Early Greece

Kõiv¹

2016

Klio

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“…Cf. Wilamowitz, Griechische Tragödien 3 (Berlin, 1910 3 ), 169-70; Friedländer (1914), 300; Wilamowitz (1924), 2.237; West (2002), 130.…”

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Odyssey and Argonautica

West¹

2005

The Class. Q.

116

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One of the most certain results of Homeric scholarship, in many scholars' view, is that some of Odysseus' adventures owe something to a pre-existing narrative about Jason and the Argonauts. 1 Opinions differ as to the extent and nature of the debt, and the matter merits a new discussion. We shall find that it opens up exhilarating views of several topics: the development of Greek geographical knowledge, the early form of the Argo legend, the stages by which the Odyssey evolved, and the eclectic borrowing by different poets of motifs from the Epic of Gilgamesh. The Odyssean adventures that come into question are contained in the sequence that extends from the Laestrygonians (10.77-132) to Thrinacia (12.260-419). I shall not discuss them in the order in which they appear in the narrative, but begin where the presence of Argonautic motifs is clearest. THE CLASHING ROCKS The starting-point must be the Clashing Rocks, those twin skyscraper cliffs that slam together to crush anything that tries to pass between them. This is not something that Odysseus attempts to do. Circe has told him that he has a choice of routes: either between these rocks, which the gods call the Planctae, 2 or between Scylla and Charybdis. The second alternative is evidently the better bet, as not even the doves that supply Zeus with ambrosia can get through the Planctae without one of them being caught, and the only ship that ever got through was the Argo (12.69-72): oi Ø h dh keí nhi ge pare´plw pontopo´rov nhu˜v Ò Argẁ pã si me´lousa, parÒ Ai Ò h´tao ple´ousa. kaí nu´ke th`n eØ nqÒ w Ñ ka ba´len mega´lav potì pe´trav, aÒ llÒ Ó Hrh pare´pemyen, eÒ pei`fí lov hÑ en Ò Ih swn. The only seagoing ship that has sailed past by that route is the Argo that stirs everyone's interest, as she sailed from Aeëtes: even her it would have straightway hurled there against the great rocks, but Hera guided her past, since Jason was dear.

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2005

A Companion to Ancient Epic

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‘Eumelos’: a Corinthian epic cycle?

Cited by 106 publications

References 4 publications

Basileus, tyrannosand polis. The Dynamics of Monarchy in Early Greece

Basileus, tyrannosand polis. The Dynamics of Monarchy in Early Greece

Odyssey and Argonautica

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